Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jacob Park, 21, was arrested last night after allegedly threatening people who attended last night’s Florida Invitational Step Show at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
A University of Florida Police Department Officer who was working a special detail at the event reported that she saw a man dressed all in black, with his face covered, enter the auditorium just before the event ended. She said the man quickly stepped back behind the wall when he saw her, and she reported that she saw the man, later identified as Park, peek around the corner multiple times in her direction before walking up to her, pulling down his mask, and asking whether she was from Africa. He reportedly suggested that she should go to Africa to visit. She reported that his “demeanor was extremely odd, and he appeared to be very nervous.”
She reported that Park returned to where he had been standing after the brief conversation, and a staff member walked over to the officer and asked whether everything was okay because the staff member was also concerned by the man’s odd behavior. A man in the auditorium who was standing near Park approached the officer and said Park had said something about being at the event to start a fight with members of Kappa Alpha Psi, a historically black fraternity. The man reportedly said he didn’t know Park but was concerned about what he’d said.